


we're the new romantics

by endlessnorth



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fake Dating, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Falling In Love, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Ned Dayne as a Plot Device, Romance, Romantic Gestures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:28:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23988901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endlessnorth/pseuds/endlessnorth
Summary: Arya Stark just wanted her ex-boyfriend off her back. She wasn’t expecting her best friend to propose dating her. And she certainly wasn’t expecting toaccept.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 32
Kudos: 112





	we're the new romantics

**Author's Note:**

> enjoy!

"Arya, if you would just _listen_ to me-”

Arya crosses her arms and grits her teeth so hard they squeak. “There’s not much to explain, Ned. You _cheated_ on me.” Which she hadn’t anticipated. Not really. Because Ned had seemed so _normal_ when they first started dating, and maybe he was snobby and stuck-up and a little bit blasé, but he had always treated her nicely; and Arya never would have envisioned he'd do something like this to her, not in a million years.

And it stings.

She would never admit it to him, but it stings.

"Look, Arya, I don't know how to say this," Ned hits the breaks and the car skids to a halt in the middle of the road. He twists around to look at her, still glaring. “But this relationship is boring.”

“Boring?” She repeats sharply. " _Boring_ _?_ Exactly how?"

He shrugs, irked. 

"Edric?"

"Do we seriously have to talk about this?"

"Hey," she snaps, "you're the one who said it." 

“I didn't even," Ned cuts himself off, clearly thinking the better of it. He looks down at his hands for a moment, sighing. "Sweetheart..."

"Don't fucking call me that," she warns him, "and be _honest_ with me, Ned." 

He just shakes his head back and forth, like some stupid dumb blond guppy fish.

A stupid dumb blond _cheating_ guppy fish.

"I," he stutters, "I didn't mean that."

“Yes, you did," she hisses.

"No, I wasn't-"

“Is it because I wouldn’t screw you?”

He gapes at her. “Excuse me?"

“You heard me.” She leans towards him, sneering, her voice quickly gathering speed. “Did you cheat on me because I wouldn’t have sex with you, or did you have some other ulterior motive? Tell me.” She shoves his chest, hard, feeling more angry than hurt now. “ _Tell me, Ned!"_

“Chill out!” He yelps. "It doesn't even have anything to do with that!"

"Yeah?" Arya says skeptically. "What is it about then?"

"Nothing! Myranda's fun to be around, that's all."

She sucks in a breath and tries to keep her thoughts together and stay calm. Was she, Arya Stark, honestly, truly, being compared to Myranda Royce, the loosest girl in their year, who’d already slept with half the guys in the junior class and was probably making moves on the others?

The thing is, after a good year and a half of dating, she hadn't thought Ned could be so stupid.

And she will not slap him. She will _not._

"What, am _I_ not fun to be around?" She ends up saying.

"No," Ned snaps, "not really, to be honest."

Which is the point when straw meets camel's back. 

“Wow," Arya says tremulously, “Okay. Wow. That's it, then." She puts one hand on the door handle, and Ned reaches out to grab her.

"What the hell are you doing?"

She stares at him, yanking her arm out of his grasp. "What do you think? I'm leaving."

"Leaving? Why?"

She gawks at him, stupefied. "Don't you get it? We're done, Ned. Over." She slumps back into her car seat for a moment. "Gods, I can’t believe I ever agreed to go out with you."

His face twists into a scowl. “And I can't believe you're doing this. You're the one who's always pissed at me, Arya." His jaw clenches. "You know, we _are_ getting older. It's not exactly my fault you're trying to avoid that, _or_ you’re so afraid of having one serious fucking relationship."

"Oh." She might be fuming. "So it _was_ about the gods-damned sex."

To his credit, he manages to look a little bit embarrassed. "Don't be that way. It was okay at first, and I had a great time with you last year, but Arya, if you want my honest opinion - I just think you need to grow up a little more.”

And her hand flies up in an abrupt movement, meeting his face in a resounding slap.

“You’re such a _douchebag,_ ” she declares, popping out of the car like a champagne cork. _Sword of the Morning, my ass._

-

Arya sprints through the trees and bushes until she sees the highway. It’s deserted. There isn’t a single car on the pathway. She sits down on the crash barrier, legs tucked up to her chest.

She tries to come up with as many insults as she can think up. Idiot she shelves right away. _Idiot_ doesn’t even describe Ned at this moment. Then again, there’s _asshole, dick, wanker, scumbag, prick,_ and, of course, _douchebag_. She doesn’t know how long she sits there thinking of ways to murder Edric Dayne, fighting her steadily rising anger.

She takes out her phone. It’s nearly two in the morning. She contemplates calling Sansa or Jon but quickly decides against it. She loves her brother and sister to death, but sitting in a car for the better part of an hour with one of her grumpy, sleep-deprived siblings sounds like a shitty way to end an even shittier day.

So instead she takes off her pinchy high-heeled shoes, which have caused some nasty blisters on her soles, and starts walking in what she thinks is the general direction of her neighborhood. Of course, Ned had to leave her in the middle of nowhere. He always had to play the gentleman.

She keeps walking, alternating between hopping on one foot and just limping, following the road until she hears the sound of a car. She turns and squints behind her. The grey pickup truck with the busted hood and the wrecked rearview is all too familiar, and she groans. Not him. She has no strength for him tonight.

“Hey, Arry,” Gendry calls, rolling down his window and adjusting his speed so he matches her walking pace. He’s wearing a grease-stained hoodie, and his hands are spotted with oil like he just came from Tobho’s garage. “Enjoying the fresh air?”

“Yeah, I am.” She doesn’t stop walking. He doesn’t stop following her. “Do you want to explain how you found me?”

“Do _you_ want to explain why Ned Dayne called me at the garage at one in the morning, saying you ran away during your guys’ date?” He sounds tired and grumpy, and Arya’s cheeks start burning crimson; because she knows that whatever version of the story he heard, it probably screams, _needy girlfriend._ “I mean, I’m glad to come to get you, but _Ned Dayne_ , Arry. You know I hate that guy.”

“Yeah?” Her voice cracks a little, and she forces her hands into tight fists. “Looks like we’ve got that in common.”

She hears him sigh. “Arya, what did Ned do?”

“Nothing.” She wipes at her eyes. Sniffles. It’s always this way with Gendry; he just gets to her, sometimes. “Look, Gendry, I’m sorry Ned called you. And I’m sorry you had to leave your stupid garage or whatever, but I’m not up for this shit tonight. So if you could leave me alone for a while, that’d be great, okay?”

The engine idles. “Can you just get in, Arry?” He adds, softer, “Please?”

She shrugs and waits for him to unlock the passenger door, sliding in next to him after a moment’s pause. She pulls the seatbelt tight across her chest and crosses her arms, grateful for the long silence between them. She doesn’t feel like talking tonight. She glances around his car, her eyes finding their way to the rearview mirror. All her makeup has been ruined; there are streaks of black down both sides of her eyes and her lipstick is smeared. When she’d left the house five hours ago, her hair freshly curled courtesy of Sansa, she had thought she looked pretty. Not beautiful, maybe, but pretty.

All that effort, and for someone who didn’t even care.

“Can you start driving, please?” she asks Gendry.

He doesn’t, though. He just keeps watching her with that stupid expression on his face that means he’s trying to figure something out, but it’s a familiar expression, and comforting, somehow. After all, she's seen it a hundred times at the garage- her crouched at his side in the back of the shop while he told her what tools to hand him, the two of them puzzling out engines and spark plugs and the dirty undersides of worn-out Buicks.

Except she’s not a fucking Buick.

So she doesn’t know why he keeps staring.

Eventually, she sighs and reaches over to twist the ignition for him, because if it depends on Gendry to figure everything out then they’ll be waiting by this roadside until next Tuesday.

He glances at her and then hits the gas. They're still moving at an irritatingly slow pace, but she doesn't even bother telling him to speed up. Besides her terror of a little brother, Rickon, Gendry is probably the most stubborn person she knows.

"So what happened?" He asks after a second.

She laughs despite herself. "Like I'm going to tell you."

"Aren't you?"

" _No."_

"Oh," she hears him grumble. "Well, shit all on friendship, then."

"Don't be stupid, Gendry, it isn't like that." She nods towards the steering wheel. "My curfew's at one-thirty."

To her dismay, he ignores her, lifting his foot off the gas pedal and slowing them to a near crawl. "You should tell me what happened."

"Why?"

"Because I drove out here so I could come to get you, _Arry_." 

"First of all, you're hardly even driving," Arya reminds him, "And _Ned_ was the one who called you. I would have been perfectly fine on my own, remember?"

"Well, then you're my friend," Gendry continues, "and I don't like seeing you this way." He taps his fingers on the dashboard. "Look, whatever he did, I won't tell anyone else about it."

She snorts. "Sure you won't."

"Come on, Arya," and he sounds almost amused. "When have I ever lied to you?"

 _Never,_ she thinks, but that isn't the point at all. "Gods, it's not about you being my friend or not! It has nothing to do with that, okay? It's so...it's stupid," she glowers at the floor, "and it's embarrassing, and I don't want to tell you about it! Why can't I just say that?"

She hopes that'll be the end of it. Instead, Gendry turns sideways in his seat and gives her a rather black look, taking one hand off the wheel to point at her. "Listen, Arry, if that dickhead hit you-"

"What?" She asks, surprised, and flushing all at once. She hadn't even thought of it like that, but she supposed that after Sansa and Joffrey, that would be the first thing to come to her mind, too. "No, nothing like that. He wouldn't...he didn't hit me. I wouldn't put up with that shit, ever." She glances at him and sighs. "Okay, look: It's nothing that serious. He cheated on me, that's all."

The car jolts to a stop, bumping both of them out of their seats for a moment. "You're kidding me."

"Nope." She stares at her hands in her lap. "I thought tonight was going to be fun, and then, and then he told me that he wants to go out with Myranda Royce, right at the end of our date." She looks askance at him. "Did he mention _that_ when he called you?"

"No," Gendry answers immediately. "Of course not. Seven hells, what a prick."

"Mhmm." She closes her eyes, practically relieving everything that occurred. "So here's my deal, apparently: Not only am I less _fun_ then Myranda, but I also need to grow up a little more and not be so scared of a serious relationship. Which - well, you're friends with other guys, Gendry, you know that things like that are only ever about-"

"Hooking up," he finishes, and she nods. "But you're done with him, right? You can't keep dating him now."

"Exactly how low do you think my self-esteem is?" She glowers. "It's the twenty-first century, genius, obviously I'm done with him. And he knows it," Arya says, anticipating his next question. "Anyways, I felt like crap at first, but then I just got mad at the two-faced little shit. He didn't even have the decency to tell you why we broke up, and he practically made you chauffeur me from downtown."

"Very true," Gendry says.

She ignores the hint of laughter in his voice. "Maybe he's worried I'll tell everyone about what happened. Like I give a crap what he does anymore. He's a conceited, elitist jackass."

"He's rich," Gendry chuckles, "enough said. No offense, of course," he adds when she narrows her eyes indignantly, "but Sansa was stupid to set the two of you up. No way in hells was _Ned Dayne_ the right person for you."

"Yeah, you've told me about a hundred times."

Gendry is practically beaming.

"You're not upset, then?"

"Oh," She tells him honestly, "believe me, I am. I'd kick his ass if I could, but what am I supposed to about it? I already slapped the guy."

" _Arry."_

"Hey, you're the one who hates him. Anyways," she continues, "as far as I can tell, it was a long time coming. And there isn't a lot I can do about it now. But believe me," she says, "I'm going to guilt-trip the hell of Sansa for making me date that jerk."

"That's not entirely fair," Gendry says. "It's not like you expected it, either."

"Sure, I guess," she groans. "By the Mother, could you start _driving_?"

He glares at her and finally speeds up. "Not to be a git about it, but I knew right from the beginning that it'd never work out. I mean, Ned might come off as a good guy sometimes-"

"But he's narcissistic and condescending and blah, blah, blah." She smiles. "We _are_ broken up, you know."

"I know. It's just nice to feel validated for once. I always thought you were too good for him."

"Oh," she says sarcastically, "That's sweet of you."

"I'm serious, Arry," Gendry says. "Any person who wants to date you for _that_ -"

"You mean sex," she interrupts, "it's okay, Gendry, you're allowed to say the s-word."

He ignores her and barrels on. "Would be a total idiot. Because even someone who _didn't_ want to screw you could see how awesome you are."

"Wow." She settles back into her seat and chuckles. "Best friend, or motivational speaker?"

"I'm serious. And I didn't tell you before because I thought you'd get pissed at me, but I'm glad you dumped him, Arya." He nods. "You deserve better than that loser."

She hears the sincerity in his voice, and it makes her blush. "Sucker."

"Wimp." He groans and leans his chair back. "You should've done it sooner, to be honest."

Arya rolls her eyes. "If only I had known."

-

"I never asked you," Arya says when he pulls up outside her house, "why were you working so late today?"

Gendry parks carefully by the mailbox and shrugs. "Dunno. Just was."

"But you're okay?" She asks tentatively. "Gendry, it's a school night and you're still at the tire shop at one in the morning. Is everything okay with the apartment? And your mom?"

"Mom's fine," he answers. "And the rent's okay now that there are no more doctor's bills to pay for. Once in a while, I just have to work a few nights to be sure to make ends meet. She gets so tired lately, y' know?"

"I know." Arya winces. "But Gendry, if you ever need anything-"

"For the last time, Arya, I'm not going to take your dad's money."

"I wasn't going to _say_ that, stupid," Arya scowls. "I was only going to say you could talk to me about it. Whenever you want, okay?" She reaches over, nudging his shoulder when he doesn't answer. "Hey. Thanks for driving me home. Besides the whole getting-heartbroken thing, it would've been a serious pain to walk home in four-inch heels."

"No big deal," he shrugs. "I am sorry about Ned."

"Don't be. I'm better off for it." She bites her lip, watching him for a few more furtive seconds. "Well, good night, then."

"Night, Arya."

She gets out of the car, shuts the door and goes to stand on the sidewalk while Gendry pulls away from the curb. Glancing at her house, all the windows are dark and the lights are off. It's a good sign so far as she's concerned.

She makes her way upstairs to her room without so much as a whisper, and it's only 1:25.

Arya yawns, making her way over to her closet and changing into a loose white tee, making sure to grab a pair of pajama pants from her dresser, and for the most part, everything is silent. It's only when she's taking off the last of her makeup - kicking her heels to the side and deleting Ned's number from her phone, grabbing a book her mom gave her a few Christmases ago in hopes she'll settle down for the night - that Sansa walks into her room, startling her with a knock on the door.

"Seven hells," Arya says, setting her book down. "I thought everyone was asleep."

Sansa smiles at her and comes to sit on the bed next to her, taking her book and placing it carefully on the nightstand. "Everyone is. The headlights woke me up." She crosses her legs on Arya’s duvet, still smirking. "So - how was your date with Edric? Did he take you to that new restaurant at Crossroads?"

"Yeah, he took me," Arya groans, "but to be honest, it was pretty horrible."

Sansa pouts. "What, was the food no good?"

Arya winces, looking down at her lap, and decides that it's better to rip the band-aid off than prolong the pain. "Sansa... I don't know how to tell you this, but Ned and I broke up."

Disbelief registers over Sansa's face for about a second, and then her lips pucker like she's tasted something sour. "You broke up?"

"But please don't get upset," she says quickly. "I know you thought we'd work well together, and we did. For a while. But, well..." She pulls a face, knowing how Sansa's going to take this. "He's cheating on me, Sans. With Myranda Royce."

Her gasp is probably loud enough to wake up half of Westeros.

"He _cheated_ on you? With Myranda Royce?" Sansa's mouth hangs open. "When did he tell you that?"

"Um, right after dinner. We were driving, and," She flinches when Sansa lets out a soft little wail. "I'm sorry, was he _your_ boyfriend?"

She practically flings herself into Arya's arms. "Oh, you must be devastated."

"Well," Arya says, carefully removing herself from Sansa's vice grip, "not really. I was mad at first, but he was such a dick about it that I didn't even care."

"He was a dick about it?" Sansa moans. "Oh, Arya, I'm so sorry."

Arya reaches over and pats her shoulder. "It's fine, Sansa. Things like this happen sometimes. You remember how Mom always said that high school relationships don't last, right?" She tries to remember what Catelyn had told Robb when he'd been dumped by his old girlfriend Talisa. "Because of impossible expectations and pressure, and..." She shrugs. "Okay, I honestly can't remember the other things she said, but my point is, it's okay, you know? It's okay this happened."

"No, it's not." Sansa whimpers. "You know I wasn't trying to set you up for failure, right?"

She nods. "I know."

"And I didn't think he'd _cheat on you!_ "

"Yes, Sansa," Arya murmurs, "I know."

"Oh," Sansa sighs. "I'm such a horrible sister." Then she flops onto her back, stares up at the ceiling, and starts to cry.

Arya watches her in disbelief, unsure how she could be so emotionally volatile after, excuse me, _Arya's breakup._

Still, she can't bring herself to be pissed off.

Here's the thing: Sansa was indeed the one to set her and Ned up, but at first, it hadn't been so terrible. In their sophomore year, she'd sent them both on a blind date with the other, even though Arya had initially hated the idea, and for the next eighteen months, it'd worked out pretty well. This might as well be a bug in Sansa's otherwise perfect system.

Here's the thing: Sansa has never been the best at picking and choosing boyfriends, hence her horrible relationship with Joffrey Baratheon. It's been half a year since she had finally broken up with him - they'd argued and he had hit her, which had been one step too far - and since then, she becomes a puddle of emotions every time someone so much as mentions the word _heartbreak._

And here's the _thing:_ Sansa might be a horrible sister on occasion - gods know she had been unbearable when they were kids - but she had only intended the best for Ned and Arya. Which is why she leans over and gives Sansa a consoling hug. "I can't believe I have to comfort you over _my_ breakup," Arya murmurs."I was planning to guilt-trip the hell out of you for this. That's what I told Gendry, anyways."

"Gendry?" Sansa asks, pulling her head from under Arya's arm. "What's he got to do with this?"

"He drove me home."

"That wasn't Edric?" Sansa says weakly.

"Sansa," Arya says in exasperation, "He cheated on me, and then I slapped him in the face. Do you think I'd stay in his car after that?"

"I guess not." She rubs at her eyes, seeming to perk up a little. "Well, that was sweet of Gendry. Most of the guys we know wouldn't even bother. Including Edric."

"Mhmm."

She taps a finger against her chin, looking thoughtful. "Maybe you should date him next."

"Date who?"

"Duh," Sansa answers, " _Gendry_."

Arya barks out a laugh and shoves her off the bed. "Come off it."

"He's cute, Arya," Sansa sighs. "Not my type, but still cute. Now that you and Edric are done, you could go for it."

"Don't even go there," Arya warns her. "Robb would kill him if that ever happened. Jon too."

"No, he wouldn't," Sansa counters. "Gendry's muscles are _way_ bigger than Jon's. Have you seen them?" Arya flushes, and Sansa laughs. "Oh my gods, you _have_ seen them. And _noticed_ them too!"

"Sansa, are _friends._ Just. Friends." Never mind her age-old crush, which even Sansa didn't know about.

"I mean, I guess it'd be weird to date him because he looks so much like Robert, but, if you could get past that," Sansa pauses, considering. "Or maybe it's a bit too soon." 

Arya raises an eyebrow, trying very hard to be impartial. "You think?"

"Look," Sansa says, going over to the door and glancing back at Arya, "if you need anything, come to me. Chocolates, a Netflix subscription, maybe a brother or two to beat Ned up-"

" _Sansa_."

"Kidding, kidding. Like I said - Jon's got zero muscle mass." She taps her hand against the doorway. "Goodnight, Arya."

"Night." She gets up to close the door after Sansa before crawling back between her bedsheets, the weight of everything that had happened finally starting to press down on her as she snuggled beneath the blankets.

So she and Ned weren't together anymore. That was okay. It wasn't like she needed a boyfriend, after all, and Ned was probably already over her. This was a minor fluke for her junior year, and she was determined to get through it the way she usually got through things, as anonymously and with as little drama as possible.

-

"You haven't talked to Ned all day," Wylla says, spooking Arya when she comes up from behind her locker. "Is something up with the two of you?"

"Um," Arya answers, "Sort of. We broke up."

"What?" Wylla gasps. "Did you dump him?'

"Well, first I slapped him. Then I dumped him." At her friend's quizzical look, she raises one shoulder and spins her combo in, opening the locker with a clang. "It's no big deal, though. I think it was a mutual agreement."

"Wait, are you not upset?" Wylla asks.

Why did everyone have to keep asking her that? She shoves her Braavosi textbook into the locker with a thud, adding to the growing stack of notebooks and papers on the bottom. "No, I guess not."

"Well, then," Wylla says, drawing out her syllables, "what exactly did he do?"

She frowns; she might have been pissed at Ned, but his business was still his business, and she'd already said too much. Wylla was nice, but Wylla was also a rumor mill, and one of the biggest gossips at their school. Chances were if she said she had tacos for dinner yesterday, the whole school would know about it in an hour. "Come on, Wyl; what is this, _Twenty Questions_?"

"I was only asking." Wylla crosses her arms, twirling a lock of sea-green hair between her fingers. "Looks like you're still sore about it, though."

"I am not _sore_ about it," Arya insists. "Look, he was a total prick to me last night. That's all you need to know, so-” Her eyes flit abruptly over Wylla's shoulder. Arya swears under her breath.

"Oh," Wylla says as Ned shuffles up to her locker. "Speak of the devil."

"Who's the devil?" Ned asks, but Wylla is already turning around to leave.

"Call me, Stark," she reminds her, and Arya mutters out a quick goodbye before peeking back at Edric. He doesn't look as cheerful as usual; there are dark circles under his eyes and his blond hair remains a bit uncombed.

Well, she figures, it was nice that at least one of them was losing sleep. "What do you want, Ned?”

Ned bites his lip, looking anxious, and then he blurts out: "I was a jerk to you yesterday, and I'm sorry, but I still wanna be with you if that's okay."

"Oh." She hates to disappoint him, but. "Well, it's good you're sorry, but that's never going to happen." She closes her locker firmly, flashes Ned a quick smile, and turns around to head to class.

" _Arya_ ," Ned whines, tugging her back around to face him. "Listen, I couldn't stop thinking about our fight last night, and I feel _horrible._ I know I was being an ass."

"You cheated on me," She corrects patiently. "Also, you admitted you were only with me for the sex, so what exactly are you hoping for?"

"I never said I was with you for the sex."

"You implied it." She starts walking down the hallway, disgruntled when Ned follows her. "Last night, and the other thirty times before that, when you asked if we could _go all the way,_ and every time I said no, you'd get mad at me."

"Sure," Ned agrees, "but Arya, if I was only in it to hook up with you, I would've broken it off before summer even ended!" She opens her mouth to retort, but he cuts her off, holding both of her hands in his. "But I didn't. And I messed up, and I know it wasn't the right thing to do, but that's why I need you! I'm not that guy, Arya, I can change! _You_ can help me change."

"Well, you were that guy twelve hours ago." She pulls her hands away, discreetly wiping them on her jeans. "And I'm not here to fix you, Ned, or to make you a better person. That's Myranda's problem now."

"Myranda?" Ned scoffs. "Myranda was a one-time thing. You're my girlfriend, Arya," he brushes his thumb over her face, caressing the verge of her cheekbone. "I love you."

"Edric..." She pushes his hand away for the last time. "I am not taking you back, okay?"

"Why not?" He says earnestly. "Come on, sweetheart. Let's forget about this. This whole thing. The stupid cheating and the arguing and you slapping me-"

"First of all, I had every right to slap you," Arya says sharply, "and we can't get back together with you, because I'm seeing someone else."

She regrets the words as soon as they come out of her mouth; Ned's face practically falls, and she knows what he's going to say before he even says it. "What? Who is it?"

"Gendry," Arya replies immediately.

She doesn't really think it through.

"Gendry Waters?" Ned says incredulously.

"The very one."

"But we only broke up yesterday!"

And oh, she's going to get in deep with this one. "Right. And now I'm with him."

She can see him parceling apart each of her words, trying to figure it all out. A vee appears between his light blond eyebrows. "But that's crazy. It's...Arya, it's insane."

"No, it isn't," Arya says. "We're really good friends, you know that." Ned raises his eyebrows, and she keeps going, the lies rolling off her tongue with surprising ease. "And after you called him last night, he came to pick me up, and I guess he kind of felt bad for me. We got to talking, and, well..." She waves her hand in a dramatic flourish. "Your imagination can probably do the rest."

He gawks at her. "Wait, did you two..."

"No," Arya gasps, feigning offense. "Of course not. Gendry is a total gentleman."

"A total gentleman who also drives a pickup," he says through gritted teeth. "Arya, he works in a _car garage_."

"So he's hardworking and makes his own money," Arya counters. "That's more than either of us can say for ourselves. And he's a nice person, Ned, and we care about each other." She crosses her arms. "No matter what you're thinking, just know this isn't some sad post-breakup deal. It's real." Arya bites her lip. "We're together."

"You're not serious," Ned breathes.

"Oh, yes I am. So good luck with Myranda, because you don't have another chance in hells with me.” She tilts her head, feigning coyness. “And do you want to know something else, Ned?"

"Not really," He chokes out.

"Well, too bad, because I'm going to tell you anyway." She stands up on her tiptoes, brushing her lips by Ned's ear. "In case you were wondering how he compares to you - Gendry's a really, _really_ good kisser."

Arya lowers herself back down, taking in Ned's look of stunned disbelief, and then she turns on her heel and walks briskly off to science.

-

"Let me think about this for a second," Gendry says as he slides out from underneath the car, "not only did you tell Ned Dayne that you and I are dating - you also said I'm that I'm a really good kisser?"

She might be dying. "I'm sorry! He was all up in my face, and I panicked, and," Gendry nods for a wrench, and she hands it to him as quickly as she can. "I guess it felt good at the time, but then I got to class and I realized how _stupid_ I was. That's why I didn't show up to lunch, by the way," she adds, "I was too embarrassed."

"I can't imagine why." He disappears beneath the car again, his voice echoing when he talks. "I would say that you're joking and trying to piss me off if this didn't sound exactly like something you would do."

"Excuse me?" She squeaks. "When have I ever lied to one of my exes about dating you? When have I ever _had_ an ex before Ned?"

"I didn't say you've done it before," Gendry says patiently. "Just that it sounds like something you _would_ do."

"You're the worst," Arya grumbles. "And I guarantee he told someone. And that someone told _someone."_

Her phone buzzes suddenly and she unlocks it, swiping up to see a text from Wylla.

_Wylla [5:44 PM]: You're dating Gendry???_

_Wylla [5:44 PM]: And you didn't tell me??_

_Wylla [5:45 PM]: Traitor >:(_

There are a few more text messages from her other friends, saying about the same thing, and it's just lucky that Jon and Sansa haven't called her yet.

"See?" She holds the phone out for him to read, dangling it just above his head. "And Wylla and Edric don't even talk!"

"Well," he says, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully, "Who do you think told her then?"

"Maybe it was one of the hallway garden gnomes," she hisses, "how the fuck am I supposed to know?"

"Don't be so bitchy," Gendry huffs. "This is all your fault."

" _I know that!_ " She types out a quick response - _who told you?_ \- and puts her head in her hands. "But what else could I have done?"

_Wylla [5:46 PM]: Doesn't matter_

_Wylla [5:46 PM] Is it true???_

And in the same instant:

_Sansa [5:46 PM]: So what's this I hear >>_

_Sansa [5:46 PM]: You and Gendry are dating?_

_Jon [5:48 PM]: ???_

_Jon [5:48 PM]: You're kidding me right?_

_Sansa [5:49 PM]: Nope Wylla told me_

Arya silences her messages, slips her phone back in her pocket, and groans.

"I don't get it," Gendry scratches his head in bewilderment, making his hair topple into the world of unruly. "You didn't have to _do_ anything. You could've just walked away."

"No," she snaps, "I couldn't."

"What do you mean, you couldn't?"

"It was..." Arya flounders for a moment. "Well, it was like at the moment I had to be superior and run my fucking mouth. But it's not all my fault! I swear, Gendry, you should have been there. Nothing would make this guy back off. _Nothing_." She drags one hand down the side of her face in irritation. "Maybe I just panicked."

"Maybe you did," Gendry agrees. He sits up, sweating, and grabs a water bottle from the stool beside him. His Adam's apple bobs for a moment as he drinks half of it in one gulp before setting it down with a clang. "Or _maybe,_ you _were_ trying to be superior, and thought that pulling on his dick by telling him we're dating would make him shut up for once in his overprivileged life."

"Why do you always talk about him like that?" Arya asks curiously. "Yeah, he's privileged, but my dad and his uncle are coworkers. You never say stuff like that to me or Jon or Sansa."

"It's simple," Gendry says. "He's a prat about his money. You're not. Neither are your siblings, for that matter." He stands up, brushes off his work pants, and sits opposite her on another one of the stools, his shirt clinging tightly to his chest with sweat.

It distracts her more than it should.

"So what are you going to do about it?" He questions.

"Tell the truth, I suppose," she grumbles. "I deleted Ned's number off my phone, but I'm sure Sansa has it somewhere. I'll text him later and say that it was all just a joke. It's not going to help the fact that he's already told people, but it'll make me feel less stupid."

He's silent for a moment.

"What?" Arya asks. "Is that unreasonable?"

"No," Gendry says, "it's not. But what's the point in even doing that?"

She stares at him, confused. "I told you. It'd make it less embarrassing for me if people didn't think I hooked up with my best friend right after I dumped my boyfriend. Whatever else happens, I'm sure Ned will spin it so the story's in his favor and I end up looking like some kind of needy slut." She winces, remembering Sansa teasing her last night and Arya's insistence that she and Gendry were only friends. "That's not to mention what my sister will say. I have to tell the truth."

"Really?" He chuckles. "Because the way I see it, you'd be far better off if you and I were dating."

She raises an eyebrow, startled. "Excuse me?"

"Look at it logically, Arry," Gendry continues. "Ned cheated on you. Those are the facts, and that's not going to be kept quiet forever. You know it. I know it. Everyone else is going to know it soon enough. That was shitty of him to do, so nobody could blame you for dumping him. And the two of us are good friends. It's not that big of a stretch if we got together all of a sudden. Also from the looks of it, Ned's not going to stop trying to get you back. Not unless he has a real reason to."

She shakes her head. "I'm sorry, what exactly are you saying?"

He seems to give up entirely. "I'm saying that we should fake date."

She nearly falls off her stool in shock, and Gendry catches her by the elbow, laughing, her breath tickling the skin behind her ear.

"What?" Arya chokes out. "Are you insane?"

"No, I'm being reasonable." He rubs the back of his neck. "If you and I were together-"

"We are _not_ together," she mutters, and as childish as it is, she can't seem to meet his eyes.

"I know we're not," Gendry replies. "But if we were, do you think Ned would go after you then? Would Melisandre keep bothering me if she thought that I was taken?"

She furrows her eyebrows, suddenly feeling blindsided. "Melisandre?"

"She's this girl in my history class," he waves off, "she keeps coming onto me, but I don't like her like that." He grins when Arya gives him a dirty look. "What?"

"You never mentioned a Melisandre," Arya mutters.

"Because she's not important," Gendry says impatiently. "My point is, it'd make life easier for both of us. You wouldn't have to deal with Ned's bullshit, and I wouldn't have to deal with Mel's." He frowns at her silence, watching her squirm in her seat, trying and failing to process what he's saying. "But, you know, if it's too weird to talk about it-"

"Shut up," she says, "I'm thinking."

Because she feels twelve years old again and hoping that Jon's cute friend would do so much as looking her in the eye; twelve years old and developing the most massive crush in all crush history; twelve years old and wearing her hair down instead of up because Gendry once said that it looked nice that way. She blushes at the very thought of it, shoving her flustered schoolgirl thoughts to the farthest corner of her mind.

That was all a long time ago. Back when Gendry had only been friends with Robb and Jon. Back when she was too shy and insecure to even speak to him, because why would he want to be friends with her when tall, beautiful Sansa was there? But then Catelyn had passed, and they'd slowly grown closer, developing a tentative friendship that had only grown stronger over the last few years. Strong enough, she reasons, that she shouldn't be so flustered over the prospect of just _pretending_ to be his girlfriend.

It wasn't that she was uncomfortable with the idea, per se.

To tell the truth, it was the exact opposite.

But it doesn't matter, she tries to convince herself. It honestly doesn't matter. That had all been years ago, and Gendry's looking at her so earnestly, and it really does make sense. She wants Ned away from her, and she wants this Melisandre girl - whoever she is - away from Gendry too.

So she grins and nods her head.

_Fuck it._

"It's a good idea," she tells him, "I'll do it."

His eyes seem to brighten a little - or is that only a trick of the light? "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She toys with her phone, smiling. "It's smart. Any idea of how long would we have to keep it going?"

"Beats me," he answers. "For as long as it takes for Ned to find another ex-girlfriend to stalk, I guess. We can finalize everything else later." He glances at the half-repaired car and then back at her, wearing a sheepish expression. "Maybe when I'm not on the clock."

Arya smiles, satisfied. "Well, then," she laughs. "Looks like I've got a brand new boyfriend."

-

"No," Sansa whines, at the same time Jon sighs, "Thank the gods."

Rickon guffaws loudly, and Bran doesn't say anything at all. 

Arya huffs and turns to Jon first, stuffed into the very edge of the couch. In another situation, she might have laughed about it. "Thank the gods? Is Gendry your friend or isn't he?"

"Of course he is," Jon bites out. "I'm just happy I won't have to beat my _friend_ up." 

"Beat him up?" Arya exclaims, at the same time Robb mumbles, "You couldn't." 

"I just don't get it," Sansa complains. "You and Gendry would be, like, _perfect_ together. What do you mean you're not dating?"

"Wasn't Ned your boyfriend until yesterday?" Jon asks. "What happened to him? Are you two together again?"

"Are you stupid?" Rickon interjects. "He _cheated_ on her! _That's_ who you should be beating up, not Gendry." 

"I will beat him up," Jon says placatingly, "and so help me, if that bastard ever comes near our house again, I will-" 

"Shut up," Arya hisses. "Dad's in the kitchen, remember?" She jerks a thumb over her shoulder. "You guys are so annoying." Then she collapses onto the sofa chair, sighing for what feels like the millionth time that evening. "Can I talk?" She asks all of them. "Just. For five minutes. Can you let me talk?"

Jon offers a slow, begrudging nod. 

"Thank you." She sits almost crumpled up, one leg beneath her and a finger tapping at her cheek, her other hand sinking into the soft leather of the armchair. "First of all, Ned and I are not together." 

It's like all five of them breathe a collective sigh of relief. 

"Second of all, _Sansa._ " Her sister huffs indignantly, flicking the end of her braid with a finger. "Gendry and I are _also_ not together. Technically." 

"Technically?" Bran asks slowly. "What does _technically_ mean?"

"As in we haven't kissed," Arya supplies, "as in he's going to pretend to be my fake boyfriend until Ned stops trying to get me back." 

They're all silent for a moment. 

And then: 

"Oh my gods," Sansa breathes, "that is _so_ adorable." 

Bran and Rickon make eye contact past Jon, who keeps shifting with slight discomfort, and then both boys end up bursting into laughter. Arya catches Sansa's gaze - she can tell she's fighting a grin of her own - and rolls her eyes while Robb just shakes his head in silent disapproval. 

"It's not," she says, trying to sound sharp, but there's something so nice about the moment that she can't. Ever since Catelyn, life was heavier, tougher, like there was a grey shroud hanging over their heads that none of them could lift; a perpetual storm brewing in their living room. It was nice to forget it all for a moment, and it was good to see her little brothers smiling again, even if: "This isn't that big of a deal." 

"No," Rickon coughs, "it's just incredibly stupid." 

She narrows her eyes and sags back into the sofa. "It makes total sense. Ned likes me. I don't like Ned. Ned wants me to be his girlfriend again. I don't. If I'm already dating someone else-"

"Did you ever consider," Jon says, pinching his nose between his fingers, "just telling him that no means no?"

"Believe me, I did." She chews her lip for a moment, glaring at all of them. "I'm not going to go into details with this-"

"Please do," Robb says dryly. 

"-but it's a mutual arrangement between Gendry and me, and I just wanted to tell all of you before it gets out." She winces slightly. Well. More than it already has. 

"You always overcomplicate things," Bran says in that self-assured way of his. "Or overestimate yourself. Historically it's one or the other."

She decides to blatantly ignore him. "Look, this was meant to give you guys a little warning. Mostly you, Robb, and Jon, so you wouldn't go punching Gendry for taking advantage of me in my vulnerable, heartbroken state." 

" _Are_ you heartbroken?" Robb asks curiously. "Over Ned, I mean." 

"Well, Sansa was."

"What?"

"What?" She repeats. "Oh, nevermind. Look, it's really simple to understand. Gendry and I will act like we're going out for a little while-"

"How long?" Jon interrupts. "Because I don't care if you're pretending or not, if I have to watch you two suck face in our living room I just might lose it." 

"We're not going to _suck face_!" She exclaims, already beginning to blush. "That's going to be part of our rules. No sucking face, no super-private dates, no making out unless necessary-"

"Rules?" Rickon says. 

"Yes," Arya replies, "for our contract." Granted, those rules were only in her head and Gendry had barely _mentioned_ it before she left the shop, but-

_"Contract?"_

"Yeah, a contract. A set of boundaries, you know? Guidelines. Dictations." She shrugs. "The whole point is to be convincing enough as a couple that Ned Dayne will leave me alone. Once he gets over me or finds a new girlfriend, then I guess we'll just 'break up'." She gives them all a hesitant glance. "So until then, you all have to promise not to tell, or else it won't even work." 

"I promise," Sansa says immediately. "That is _such_ a sweet idea."

"Promise," Rickon mutters, Bran echoing him quickly after.

"Promise," Robb yawns. 

"Jon?" Arya asks. 

Her favorite brother looks at her for a moment, as if debating. "I don't know if this is a good idea." 

"Why?" She questions. "It's better than me dating him. It's better than Ned Dayne following me around school everywhere begging for me to take him back." 

"Maybe," Jon agrees. "Or maybe, you'll end up getting way deeper into this than you thought."

"You're being overdramatic. What's there to get into?"

He looks distinctly uncomfortable. "I don't know. Feelings, maybe? Your and Gendry's friendship, which you might be putting at risk?" He doesn't seem to notice her flushing. "I promise not to tell," Jon says finally, "but I think you're making it seem a lot easier than it will be." 

"You're always so damn cryptic," Arya says fondly, "but thank you. If I ever-" The living room door opens abruptly; Ned stands there in the doorway, watching the six of them in pure confusion. 

"What are you all doing?" Their dad asks. 

"Bonding," Bran replies quickly. "You know, Arya was sad about the breakup with Ned, so we're just..." He reaches out and gives her an awkward pat. "Supporting her. Er, lifting her spirits."

"Ah," Ned says. "Of course. I just wanted to let you know that dinner's nearly ready. It's pot roast tonight."

"Oh," Arya replies, "right."

She had almost forgotten.

"Be right there, Dad," Robb says, standing and stretching from the couch. His eyes find Arya, gleaming with amusement. "We can talk more later. You know we can't be late for this." 

They really couldn't.

Because their father, in a valiant effort to try and maintain the tradition that their mother had started years and years ago - had started going all out in the kitchen once a month to celebrate the people she loved with the food she adored, on the rare nights when he wasn't too busy working.

He never seemed to succeed, always burning the cornbread or the greens - how he did the latter, Arya never knew. But her brothers and Sansa and Arya all just ignored it, the earnest way he tried serving as a reminder that for as much as they all missed their mom, their father missed his wife even more. 

-

The next day she forces him to eat with her in the library, because there is no way she's doing this in front of Wylla and her friends. 

"So no private dates, because that'd be too weird, but parties are fine," Gendry says, drumming the end of his pencil against the textbook he's pretending to study from, "no making out unless necessary, and-" He squints at the piece of paper in front of them, where she'd hastily scrawled a few words down before lunch. "No sucking face in Arya's living room?"

"That was for Jon." She explains. "He's, er, a little uncertain about this whole arrangement." 

"You told him?" Gendry asks. 

"I told him," she confirms. "And Robb. And Sansa. And Bran and Rickon, too." Gendry raises his eyebrow, and she huffs. "Come on, they're my siblings. And it benefits you anyways - did you want Jon thinking that you were dating his little sister?"

He takes a thoughtful bite of his sandwich, shifting against the bookcase he's leaning on. "Exactly. So you should be grateful I told them."

"Jon I get," Gendry says. "Robb too. But what exactly do Sansa and your little brothers have to do with this at all?"

"You don't know Sansa," Arya laughs. "She can be so insufferable, and right now she just thinks you're being a really sweet, considerate friend. As for Bran and Rickon, well, it felt wrong to leave them out." He glances away and she cocks her head. "Why? Who did _you_ tell?"

"No one," he mutters, "except for my mom; but she thinks we're dating for real."

She nearly chokes on her egg salad. That, she had not expected. "What? Why'd you tell her that?"

"Because she's always nagging me about getting a girlfriend," Gendry explains wearily. "She thinks I'm too lonely or whatever, and she already likes you so much, I figured it was harmless. And it was like...a test drive, you know? To see if our dating was believable." She groans; he grins. "It was, by the way. She was very pleased to hear I was dating a girl as nice and polite as Arya Stark."

"Well, I'm glad to hear it," she says dryly, reaching over for one of his carrots, "but why don't we get back on track?" She taps her notebook expectantly. "Come on. This is why we're here."

"Where?" Gendry asks smugly. "Sitting behind the stacks in the library because you're too embarrassed to discuss this in public?"

Arya ignores him and checks her watch for the fifth time that hour. "You know, lunch ends in fifteen minutes."

"Okay, okay." He finishes the last of his sandwich, and, still chewing, grabs the notebook from her lap. "Got any ideas for rule four?"

She shrugs, unsure.

"Oh," Gendry says after a heartbeat, "Here's something. Let's not make this binding."

She tilts her head, slowly spooning some egg salad into her mouth. "Binding?"

"I mean, obviously this isn't a real contract, and one of us could back out whenever we wanted," Gendry says, nodding down at the piece of paper, "but I think it's fair to say that if either of us wants out of this pretend-relationship thing, that the other person isn't allowed to judge them." 

Arya nods. "No, yeah." She takes the pencil from his hand and writes it down. "And they don't have to say the reason why," she continues. "If they're uncomfortable, or just don't have the time, then it's over. Zero questions asked. No hard feelings." She smiles. "Although, I think it's fair to give warning at least a day in advance, if only for the sake of politeness." 

"Sure." He writes that down too. "For the sake of politeness. Not that I'm already thinking about pretend-dumping you," he adds, "but I thought it was important to discuss." 

She hums agreements, and then: "Speaking of dumping." Arya grimaces a little. "I would appreciate it if you didn't date other girls while this is going on. Not that I'm trying to be controlling or anything, but..." She glances away from him. "Ned did that kind of thing to me, and it's bad, and it's embarrassing, and I don't want the two of us to be associated with that kind of thing. So I won't flirt with other guys, either." She hunches her shoulders a little. "Because we're trying to make this seem real, and that's not who we are, right? We wouldn't try to hurt each other." 

"Right," Gendry says quietly. "No cheating, then. Even if it's fake." 

She writes that one, making sure it's neat and legible.

"Also," Arya says, "I'll play pretend around your mom, but if the two of us are ever around my siblings, it's not necessary to act like boyfriend and girlfriend. As I said, they already know it's fake, so we'd just be grossing them out by holding hands and shit."

"Sure," he agrees, "I remember rule three. What about your dad, though?"

"It's better not to mention it all," she says after a moment. "He was really happy Ned and I dated - he and Ned's uncle work together, and it's not like he's _said_ anything but I bet our breakup upset him a little. Well, not the breakup itself - but, you know, he thought Ned was good for me and he has this impression that I can only take so much heartbreak." That wasn't to mention the added stress it'd give her father when she and Gendry eventually broke up, as was bound to happen. "I'll be honest if he asks me, but I probably just won't ever tell him."

"By the way...what's the time limit on this thing?" She continues. "When should we stop pretending? I suppose it'd stop after Ned starts dating someone new, but if you have a specific number of days or something..."

"Like I said," Gendry replies, "however long it takes for that douche to start leaving you alone, that's how long we'll do it for."

"Sure." She peeks at him again. "That's sensible. Anything else?" 

"No." Gendry rubs his face for a moment. "I mean...yes." He seems tentative, suddenly. "What about kissing?"

"Kissing?" Arya asks, a sudden warmth flooding her chest. "What do you mean?"

"When can it happen?" Gendry asks. "I know you said it should only happen if necessary, and never at your house, but is it going to happen? _Should_ it happen? Are you okay with it, or do I have to make up some sort of signal to-"

"Gendry," Arya cuts him off quickly, realizing how frantic he sounds, "We're going to be kissing at one point or another." She feels herself flushing, and it's dim in the library but she can tell Gendry is too. "If we don't, then it's like we're just saying we're friends, and gods knows that isn't enough for Edric. I'm fine with it as long as you aren't going to be a creep about it." She stares at him judgementally. " _Will_ you be a creep about it?"

"No," he sputters, "of course not."

"Then, as I said, we'll kiss whenever necessary," she says curtly, hoping to avoid the sentiment that neither of them wants to kiss the other, "and can we _please_ not talk about it until then?"

Gendry just laughs.

"Okay, okay. You know what?" He suggests. "Let's just sign the damn thing." 

So quickly she scrawls her name on the bottom on the notebook, passing it over to him, and tucking her knees beneath her chin as she listens to the light scratch of pencil on paper. "Done," he says after a moment. "It's not the best - but for fifteen minutes, it's pretty damn good. We can figure out the details as we go." He looks at her, beaming. "Sweetheart."

"Darling," Arya returns, and then after she closes her notebook, slipping it securely back into her backpack, she leans over and gives his cheek a light kiss. She pulls away, pretending not to see the look of surprise in Gendry's eyes. "Thanks for doing this," she tells him, still without meeting his eyes. "It means a lot to me."

 _Details,_ she reminds herself, just as the bell rings.

If this was going to work, details could be everything. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my sincerest apologies to ned dayne, whose canonical self was erased and replaced with an egotistic prep jock for the sake of the all-important plotline. book readers know he is actually the nicest guy in all of the hollow hill and that he doesn't deserve this abuse :( but, you know, convenient plot devices are convenient.
> 
> anyways, thank you for reading, and please comment/review if you liked this chapter; it would mean the world to me! you can come find me on tumblr @endlessnorth.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: [endlessnorth :)](https://endlessnorth.tumblr.com/)


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